Their Mistakes
by Inuyasha22-sama
Summary: Alternative storyline, starting from the very moment when Morgana finished chanting the Rising. Careful though, character death isn't explicitely excluded :) If that's not quite your favorite flavor, I'm sorry. Rating may or not change depending on the further story.


"This must feel awful, Balthazar.. All these years of fighting to prevent one moment.. and then coming up _short_!"

It were the last words he heard before the world, his world as well, started to crumble. Dark clouds had formed above Morgana, who was in deep trance true to The Rising, even when her eyes started to regain focus and a diabolic smile graced her features. As the clouds shot out to each peak of the pentagram above, the spell was completed.

That was when Balthazar perked his ears at the sound of a growling engine. Stunned, he mumbled "That's my car..", catching Horvath's attention, before the phantom came rushing around a street corner, a tesla coil arranged to its front. As far as the elder could see, Dave was sitting in the vehicle and, once with Horvath in range, pushed a button, after which a plasma lightning shot straight at the target, rippling through and knocking the man aside, unconscious. A little victory at least. Trying to stand Balthazar pushed himself up, just to wince _hard_, then falter and land heavily on his right side. Dave practically jumped out of the car and rushed to his master's side, kneeling beside him, helping him sit up slightly by holding the older sorcerer by his shoulders.

"You okay, man?"  
"I'm fine.. What are you doing here? I think I've forbidden you to.."

"And let you die here? Not a chance, old man!"

"You're a true Merlinean, Dave. But a fool.."

"Thanks a lot." Sarcasm flooded the youth's voice, but worry as well.

"And I'm in no shape to fight any longer. You go and stop Morgana!"  
"But we're too late already!"  
"Never say never, you can do it. After all, you are the prime Merlinean, ain't you?"  
"I already said I'm not!"  
"I know you are. There's that shine in your eyes. Now go!"  
"What if I _can't_ do it?"  
"Then we're all doomed."  
"Erm... ... good point. I'll be right back... don't move, hear me?!"

"I'll try to." Dave shook his head at the amusement he heard from the elder's tone. How could the man joke in such a moment? The apprentice gently put down his master and ran towards Morgana. From his point of view, Balthazar easily could watch how Dave faced the most deadly enemy ever to roam the earth, even deflected a huge ball of fire by casting a huge vacuum sphere around himself. As much as it made him proud to see his apprentice fight this well and use the spells he had taught him with the profiency of years of practise, as much did it pain the old Merlinean to see the love of his life fight the task of his life, even if he knew it wasn't Veronica's doing. When Morgana had been freed from the Grimhold, her body had taken the form it last had been in when she was locked in. Which happened to be Veronica's, as at that time, the sorceress had sacrificed herself to save him, him of all, by taking Morgana's soul into her own body. Balthazar had been forced to lock both of them into this unbreakable prison ever since, to prevent Morgana from doing this, and save Veronica's life.

But now, so the elder concluded, it would've been better if the woman just had let him get killed. This way, Morgana would have died long ago, probably of old age, with her the leftovers of her minions. It would've been a small sacrifice compared to hers. Past couldn't be changed though, neither could one avoid the concequences of their past. Pushing himself up once again, this time really trying to stay that way, the old master felt the tingle of a plasma bolt in his right hand. The time for pondering was over. Just in time when Dave's spell gave in, Balthazar threw the plasma at Morgana, who was recovering from her own attack, luring her attention away from the younger sorcerer.

That one just saw the shining ball of concentrated matter brushing past him which was about to hit Morgana directly.. when the witch raised a hand, stopped the sphere in midair, charged it further, then sent it right back to the addressor! Dave flinched, when he saw his friend being hit by that and thrown a few feet just to land hard, again, this time remaining laying down motionless.

Again, Dave faced Morgana, this time it was personal. The witch smiled.  
"You may have Merlin's powers.. but you don't have his strength. Or skill."  
"But at least I'm not alone! I brought a little science with me!"

The confused look Morgana gave him was priceless. Actually, Dave wanted to scream something like "NOW" in that moment, commanding some cables to crawl over the ground, connect the nearby traffo with the lamps all around the fountain, then shock the hell out of Morgana, rob her of her powers and kill her with whatever spell coming to his mind. But the witch had seen it coming. The traffo burst up in flames, as it was hit by a concussion sphere, just as Dave sucked in enough air to speak. Instead, he stared at the building open mouthed, hearing Morgana's mocking laughter.

"And now.. it's my turn", her poisonous voice said. Dave gulped, as he set up his shield once again.

When Horvath came to, the first thing he witnessed was the spectacle of Morgana shooting a series of plasma bolts at Dave, who was on his knees already, the blue flickering defense shield getting smaller with each hit. The boy didn't even stand a chance. Horvath's eyes travelled from the fighting scene over the park and finally found his arch enemy unconscious – or dead – on the ground. Grabbing his cane, which he had stupidly letting fall when that little runt had used that _thing_ against him, the elder approached the still form of the blasted young sorcerer's master, gently probed it with the cane and found it unresponsive to the touch. Raising an eyebrow at it, Horvath stepped over the fallen enemy and went to join his leader, who was too busy casting lightning all around Dave, covering the boy with electricity – as he had planned to do with her, she loved irony – and enjoying the painful but sufficating screams of her victim. It was a strange sight seeing Veronica brutal like this, but even Horvath was trying to be real now. Veronica wouldn't be there much longer. Morgana would erease her spirit as soon as possible, to take over her body.

Though, young David wouldn't survive this day either. This became clear when the boy's shield shattered for good,. As the ground raised from below, the apprentice was engulved by it, wrapped in like a package, as he threw a last glance at his unmoving master, his lips forming a cry for help without his voice being able to put it into intelligible words, when the earth swallowed him whole and pulled him under, leaving a perfectly normal fountain when the spell was done, with no trace of a fight being visible.

Morgana smiled, as she felt some familiar auras in the far distance come back to life. The Rising had settled in and the bodies of millions of dead Morganians had been restored by now. She turned to face her minion, who just stood there, admiring her. "No need to look so pathetic", she sneered. And as she raised her hand, an ice spear formed and pierced right through the old sorcerer who gave it a surprised gasp, before he fell backwards, turning to dust almost immediately, which was blewn away by the wind, while the ice melted. Morgana just shook her head. She didn't need a weakling who'd failed to kill one enemy for such a long time, the same enemy she.. well, technically, she had needed just as long, seeing she had been locked up, but compared to this fool, she had fired to kill. Somehow, she could picture Horvath having his fun torturing that man instead of killing him straight out, trapping him under something and pressing down the ceiling slowly.

But it had been dealt with now. Forgetting everything else, the Morganian leader turned to leave the park. Time to take over the world. She'd need a place to work first. Not that she was afraid of potential enemies, but she needed a place somewhere under their radar until reinforcement had arrived. You never knew who could be after your head, especially if you spent millenia suspended like her, you'd like to keep your life. Somewhere in the so-called-excuse-of-a-Prime-Merlinean boys mind she'd seen the perfect place. This was where she would go. Splitting the air before her, she created a portal, went straight through it and was gone.

Morgana never heard the sirens approaching.

As Balthazar came to, he immediately recognised the clean smell of disinfection around him. This completely still air, the silence, everything just screamed at him he was in a hospital. Damped sounds of nurses and visitors echo'd up and down the hallway outside his room. He was all alone in there, not a single soul coming to check up on him. Why would they, he thought as he carefully sat up and found all kinds of cables attached to his body, an oxygen mask covering his mouth and nose and a little device, probably a bell in case he was in acute need of something, next to him on the bed. The other buttons on the thing were supposedly for raising or lowering the headpiece, which he greeted and used, easing the strain on his back and neck. As he threw a few lustless looks around the room, he found his coat and hat hung up nicely in a half open dresser. This made him check his current outfit, causing him to lose a less enthusiastic 'tsk' about the typical white hospital robe that covered him from shoulders to feet, the right leg in a sling and covered in plaster reaching the knee, to keep the limb from moving. Evaluating his injuries, he found them to be less painful if he didn't move, so he stopped any attempt at doing so, leaning back onto the matress. He knew his leg was broken, how couldn't it be, after that trashcan he'd been hit by shortly before everything had gone completely wrong. Another thing nagged at his mind. Where was Dave? The fact the boy wasn't around shouldn't unsettle him. He might as well have class today, or hang out with Becky, inviting her to a breakfast in France or something.

It was her appearance in his room though which made him change his mind about latter idea. As the blonde stepped through the door, she didn't exactly look like the living-happily-after princess. Tears streamed down her face as she looked about the room, checking all beds while approaching Balthazar, until she stood next to the bed, looking down on him.

"Where's Dave? I've been looking all over for him!"  
"I can't tell you, Rebecca."  
"Why not? Didn't he rush to _your_ rescue?" She tried to not make it sound like an accuse and horribly failed. The girl knew it failed when she saw the stricken expression on the other face and felt sorry immediately.

"Listen, something went wrong, terribly wrong, yesterday night. We were seperated. I don't actually know where Dave is or if he is even _alive_!"

The last words shook Becky and the girl staggered back, until her legs hit a chair and she sunk down on it, ghostly pale. "You're kidding, aren't you?"

"I'm afraid I'm not. And if you value your life, you should take everything you hold dear and bring them to a safe place. The Rising...", he began, then saw Becky's confused expression and shook his head, starting the last sentence again. "This place will be crawling with evil sorcerers soon."

Strangely, the girl smiled shyly at that and found a sudden interest in her shoes. Balthazar followed her gaze, frowning slightly, then looked back at her face, inquiring her what was so funny. When she answered the unspoken question, her voice was soft.

"You know.. Dave asked me to displace the satellite dishes last night.."

Well, this was a good plan and could have worked, as it would've disrupted the energy flow the spell fed from. Balthazar was proud of his apprentice's insight on the matter and nodded absentmindly. But something didn't match here, so he listened closely as Becky continued.

"I couldn't do it. They didn't move when I kicked them!", she said, a fresh wave of tears streaming down her face. "Dave asked me to help and I failed! If something happened to him, it's all my fault.."  
"No, it's not", the elder suddenly said, sitting up more straight and regretted it instantly, as sharp pain flooded his existance and made him sink back into the pillows with clenched teeth, much to the young woman's shock. As he got more composure, he went on.

"It's not your fault, Rebecca. You tried your damned best to help. Don't you dare to put this on yourself..!"

The young woman looked at the elder, helplessnes in her eyes. This was too hard on her and she was like a piece of expensive china under a trash truck; ready to crack, or, maybe, already in chips. Sitting sniffing on the chair, she continued to stare at Balthazar, who returned it in silence, until a nurse came in to inform them that the visiting hours had passed. As the woman was gone, Rebecca stood, trying to look reassured by smiling – a sad lie it was -, waved good-bye and approached the door, when she heard Balthazar speak again.

"Rebecca..", he called, making the girl turn around, facing him. ".. if Dave is still around, we will find him. I promise we will."  
"I know.. thank you..", she replied, sniffing once again, pushed the door open and was gone, when it fell back shut.

Morgana smiled. It wasn't the kind of cheery or happy smile, but the smile of one who was sure to be the winner of whatever game they played. This particular game seemed more than easy. She was in the subway turnaround, the one where a Merlin Circle had been carved into the ground. The old witch leaned against one of these strange looking things of copper that were all around, staring at the circle, one hand stretched out in it's direction, her Amulet glowing as she tried to undo the magic that had placed the markings on the ground. It proved unbelievable hard though. This spell was pretty resistant against her attacks and even dared to glow brighter as she pulled on the invisble strings connecting the magic with the floor.

When she wasn't successful after an hour or so, she gave up on it. And Morgana wasn't the person to give up easily. But actually, she considered, it could wait for a little while longer. It wouldn't be long now until her servants and fellow sorcerers arrived. Knowing this and the fact they'd together be able to remove this relict of a fallen enemy, she finally took the time to look around. The first thing she'd spotted after finding the hideout – which had proven as complicated as her current task, since those damned mortals had overcomplicated mobility in the last few years at it seemed.. the coachman of that yellow horseless carriage had succumbed to her control spells quite easily though – had been the Merlin Circle after all. And after discovering this, she'd concentrated more on that than on her surroundings.

Now though, the ancient witch saw the chaos all around her. Here a half-eaten _something_ in a paper box, which gave a general impression of having laid there for quite a while now and smelled like rotten cheese, there a few half burned down candles, on a desk she saw a Merlinean Encantus with a raw shematic of the spell that had her locked up in the Grimhold [the second she thought about it, the paper went up in flames], and finally, the other unrecognizable things. Giving off a particular annoyed 'tsk', she waved around with her right hand once and where it passed, flames shot out of the ground, burning whatever was above it. Tesla coils melted to copper bulks, furniture turned to ashes, several books didn't stand the flames long enough to even leave anything at all. When the spell was done, the turnaround was like on it's first day; clean, empty, and most of all...

... STILL MARKED BY THAT DAMNED MERLIN CIRCLE AND ON TOP OF IT, THAT MERLINEAN ENCANTUS HAD RESISTED THE FLAMES AS WELL!

Even as Morgana angrily threw ice spears at the book, it remained not only unharmed but untouched, having built a shield around itself, which flickered as the strange magic met its defense. The old witch felt the blood boil in her veins, as she stared at the renitent book, before calming down and ignoring it, walking around, starting to re-decorate everything. Here a stand for her own spellbook – pocket edition -, there some shelves, that would do. At last, she would carve the symbol of her clan into the ground, claiming this place. But for now, this would have to wait. Levitating on top of the mid-levelled catwalk, she overlooked her work.

Yes, this place was perfect.

Spending his lifetime in a hospital wasn't quite what Balthazar Blake had planned for himself. If his plan hadn't completely backfired as it did, he would be nursed by Veronica now. While being bound to the bed, his grief had drawn back and was replaced by anger. At the world, at himself, at that damn witch, at the company who'd pulled the screws of that screwed satellite dish too damn tight to move the device.. mostly at himself though. If he had listened one damn time.. Dave had been reasoning with him and he had just ignored the youth's arguments about him being unable to fight Morgana and Horvath at the same time. The boy had been right all along, Balthazar knew, while he had been blinded by desperation and love. Love was a distraction, so he had said himself, and it had served well to decimate his rationality to a minimum.

And this, _this_, was the _outcome_. Instead of _saving_ the world, he had helped with pushing it into _abyss_. It wouldn't be long until Morgana made her move and sent out her minions. They'd never been the kind to spare human lives. Merlin had tried to get some reasoning into the witch's mind back then, which had ended in her successfully trying to kill the old master. There had been a lot going wrong in the past centuries. But this really was the best part of history. If Morgana took some time to claim reign, maybe she'd make it for 21st December 2012..? At least the armageddon prophets wouldn't be disappointed. _Dead _maybe, but proven in their opinion.

Balthazar shook his head at the thoughts. This wasn't the time for cynism. Sitting up slowly he touched his broken leg with his ringed hand, took a deep breath and sent healing waves through the limb. He'd been doing this all morning, actually even yesterday night, right after Becky had left, and it had began to work. Balthazar never was the best healer, thus needing some time to do a full healing spell, but the basics were in his mind and worked to a satisfying degree. His ribs were the first thing he'd taken care of. It had been the worst part as well, as blending out the pain to maintain a good level of concentration proved hard enough for him to nearly lose it. After a quick nap though, the pain was gone and he could sit again. The old master was looking forward to being able to walk again and – most of all – to get the hell out of here. This kind of places always made him a nervous wreck. He'd been avoiding hospitals – even doctors – as much as possible, for a good reason too.

This reason stepped inside the room now, just in time when Balthazar had withdrawn from the healing magic and leaned back to lay on his back again. It was a young man, dressed in a white coat, carrying a stethoscope around his neck and smiling faintly artificial. His brown hair was unnaturally well kept and the dark eyes glimmered with so-called wisdom. But worst of all was that arrogant vibe surrounding the man. Two nurses accompanied him, even if one would've been enough.

"Mr. Blake!", the doctor said in the tone a father would use with his son who'd been stealing from a cookie jar. Balthazar tried to look less annoyed than he was; which was a big deal. Nonetheless, the doctor went on. "How are you feeling today?" It wasn't a question, it was a demand for information.

"I'm actually pretty fine, Doctor, and I'd like to be released tomorrow."  
"You're joking, right? I think, sir, you won't be leaving us any time before christmas. The x-ray shows multiple fractures of the ribs, a nasty crack right through your right shin, examination found a lot of bruises and severe burns of the skin. No, Mr. Blake, I fear we have to keep you here."

"Maybe you should check again. I think they're gone."  
"That's impossible."  
"Come and look yourself."

The doctor did, with reasonable sceptism, re-examined the sorcerer and started to frown when he indeed found a lot less injuries than last night. Just how was that possible? The patient winced a little when the doctor pressed against the ribs though; which wasn't completely unreasonable, for he may have put a little too much pressure on it which would hurt even a healthy person. Before he could do damage, he pulled back and stared at the elder, who stared back innocently.  
"This can't be. There must have been a mistake. You will stay here until we solved this mystery. Sister, take a blood sample and let it check for drugs."  
"Yes, sir."

With that, the confused medicus left, joined by one nurse, the other already busy preparing a needle. As the cool metal pierced his skin and a vein, Balthazar played with the thought of changing the fluid's color on the fly by dispersing the hemoglobin, which would cause the blood to turn yellow, just to scare the woman a little and ease his boredom, then discarded the idea for it seemed childish to do that. When the nurse left with the now blood-filled syringe, the sorcerer looked after her, giving off a barely audible snort. Yes, he hated hospitals. For things like those. The best thing of magic being unknown to the usual people was nobody hunted you with torches and spikes. On the other hand, especially medically educated doctors couldn't understand when a patient healed a big degree faster than the others. Back then, when Merlin was still alive, magic was_ equal_ to medicine. In the good old times, none of the villages under Merlin's supervision had been fallen prey to the plague or even the common cold. With his death, the diseases had spread like a wildfire among the people. Back then, medicine was affortable as well, since Merlin was opposed to earning money with your magic. It was a birth gift, not the ticket for fortune.

Today of course, this was different. Medicine was still some kind of magic, of course, but people earned lots of money with it. If anything Morganian had taken reign, it was this ridiculous thought. People wanted money to help others. Without money, you weren't only powerless but helpless as well. Thinking about that, Balthazar wondered if it really was him who was insane or if was the world who had developed some kind of neurological disease, for some reason only sparing him. Maybe both. The cure would be a brute one, ending a whole era of feeling irrationaly secure. For everyone at that. Concluding this the elder rolled on his left and dozed off.

Becky didn't feel like doing her show today.

Which was a feat in and out of itself, for she usually loved talking about music. But the words of Dave's uncle still stuck in her mind. Should she really be sitting here, chit-chatting with herself about topics nobody listened to?

Her last listener _was_ dead after all.

She'd faced the truth before and had decided to try to get over it. She might as well stop this whole thing and do what everyone else was doing; shopping, going to parties, forget the world and just think of herself. On the other hand.. what if Dave was still alive somewhere? Maybe waiting to be found? In any case, right now, her show was virtually unheard. Excusing herself to the non-existing audience, she stood, left the record room and passed Alex, who looked after her with a confused frown on his face.

Outside, the girl looked up at the mighty front of black clouds, that had accumulated in the past few hours. A nasty feeling creeped over her skin and made her shudder. Running along the side-walk she tried to ignore the voice in her head, telling her to get the hell out of here. As the torrent came down, it went unnoticed by the girl, who was wondering if Dave was getting soaked right now too..

The next week literally passed in a blur.

From the first day the news announced several dead people all around the city, all of them with unknown causes of death and only each a strange symbol carved into the neck...

... to the second day when they said even more corpses had been found, just like the others yesterday...

... to the third day when slowly panic creeped into the hearts of New York City's people, because the traffic lights stopped working altogether, causing one crash after another...

... to the fourth day as each time Becky walked the streets, she'd encounter creatures she'd never seen before. All of them carried rings and they looked down on people like mere insects. By instinct, Rebecca knew they had to be sorcerers. Strange looking ones indeed though, some with scars, some half charred, others too beautiful to be human.. Speaking of sorcerers, she hadn't seen Dave's uncle for a while now...

... to the fifth day when finally mayhem took reign. Electricity had stopped working by now. The everchanging folk of NY had adapted easily to having no traffic lights, but sitting at home without television wasn't something they could adapt to. In daylight, when everyone had to do something, this wasn't much of a problem. In fact, the people started to go outside a lot more, even at night now. Which _was_ the problem...

... to the sixth day when the battery park was found to be littered with corpses. Literally everywhere lay dead bodies, charred, pierced, slashed, some even in pieces. It was this day New York learned what fear meant.

On the seventh day, the streets were empty. There was no room for a yearnful thought of television programs. Who could had their families around them. Who couldn't creeped into their beds and dragged the cover up to their ears like in their childhood days, afraid of the shadows on the wall. With reason for the first time in their lives.

Balthazar's prophecy obviously hadn't turned out to be just a product of his not-so-sane mind. He and Becky right now hid in a dark alley-way, avoiding the imminent death walking the streets in the form of countless Morganian sorcerers. How they'd come to flee together? Think of it as a coincidence. Just when Becky was about to lose her head, the ice blade was blocked by Balthazar, who had come out of nowhere. The Morganian hadn't lived to see the sunset that day, but since then, the old sorcerer and the young girl had not seperated. When she asked, the elder just waved it off, mumbling something of an emergency evacuation at the hospital and being left out of it.

In reality, Balthazar had taken the chance of the general chaos and just walked out the hospital. After all, he'd spent the last week force-healing his injuries, so he was perfectly able to walk again.

And so they were here now. Compared to her, Balthazar was cool like a blizzard. Ready to strike, but not a moment too early. He watched the street, one ring on his right hand glowing brightly, while she sat further in the back, shivering from fear and cold, hating herself for not running when she'd been warned. Repeatedly.

Since they met, they'd been attacked by no less than six Morganian, each of them suffering a different fate but ultimately becoming dust. They hadn't found Dave yet, but this was the least of their worries. It gave the girl a nice scare when she noticed looking for her boyfriend had become less important than the strive for survival. And even with this, she was no help!

Right when she was about to drown in her self-pity, breath got stuck in her throat, as someone stood before their alley, stared right into it and had an ugly smile on his bony features. "Thar thy ar!", he spoke in his strange dialect and pointed right at the girl and her companion. Latter cursed and jumped to his legs. He knew they were trapped like rats, thus spared Becky useless commands like "Run!" or "Hide!". As the elder realized the situation, a cruel sense of nostalgia washed over him. Great, nothing else to depend on than his magic.. and friendship? They were doomed. As Balthazar casted a barrier to keep the incoming Morganians – judged by their usual pack drive, this single Morganian wouldn't be walking alone, much less fight fair and square - from taking them, he found the time to throw a quick glance over his shoulder, to find Becky standing right behind him, back to back, staring at something he couldn't make out from his pose.

"B-Balthazar..", she stuttered. Now, that wasn't good. He had to look. Keeping one hand stretched out to keep up the shield, he tried to make out what the girl was so damn afraid of. Bless her if it was just a cat! A cat with a wicked concussion spell then. He realized this, when his head collided with the nearby wall and cold darkness engulfed his consciousness. The last thing the old sorcerer heard was Rebecca's scream.

A gruesome headache was the first thing to welcome him back to life when he woke the next time. The darkness engulfing him wasn't exactly what worried him though. In fact, he loved this lack of light for it soothed his pounding head. Besides, something else went through his mind right now.

Where was Rebecca? Did they kill her? Or worse? A sudden shriek a few metres beside him made the elder flinch, not from the shock but because it went right through his ears and left the same trail an arrow would have if such had went through his head. He groaned lowly and growled a quiet "Would you stop doing that?", which made the female person, probably Becky from the tone of the shriek, instantly shut up.

"B-b-balthazar? Is that you?", she whimpered, something near her clanking and creaking. "What is this?"

"They chained us to a wall I guess."  
"Why?!"  
"Let's focus on getting out of here alive, yes?"  
"Y-yeah.."  
"I'll try to freeze the chains and break them. You do your damned best to keep quiet."  
"Fine.." Now, that she thought about it, Becky actually found the calmness to get a little angry about that. She wasn't a little child who had to be told to be quiet, was she? And what did he mean by "breaking the chains"? Of course, he was a sorcerer, but their captors would have to be extreme idiots, if ..

"... I can't..", Balthazar finally said, the chain members clicking against each other as he relaxed again. It was all he said, so Becky waited for a moment, before she dared to speak again.

"So we're stuck here?"  
"Yes."  
"What will happen to us?"  
"Only god knows. If she even cares what happens to a folk of hereticans."  
"Hereti.. wait, she?"  
"Yeah. God was always female."  
"How do you kn-.."  
"I was around when they translated the bible to english. Some high persons who happened to be male didn't like the idea of worshipping a woman. So God became He, while He should be She."  
"Eh.. okay..?"  
"You don't believe it?"  
"Well.."  
"I see. Nevermind then."

Becky's eyes grew accostumed to the darkness by now, so she saw the silhuette of her companion. He seemed somewhat disappointed, or, maybe, he was just tired.

"I believe you.", Becky said with a steady voice and tried to maintain the eye contact as she did so. That made him snap up his head again and look at her, disbelieve in his eyes. Then the old sorcerer smiled. "You actually are the first person to do so."

Blinking in surprise, Becky felt herself at a loss of words.

After a while though, a question nagged at her. "Will we get out of here?", she asked, then waited for an answer, however harsh it might be. As she got none, the girl waited for a little while longer and was about to give up, when she heard Balthazar speak.

"Yes and no. We will get out, but probably won't live to see it."  
"Then.. it's over?" Against her own will, a soft sob accompanied her question. Either the other didn't notice or he'd decided to ignore it when he stared right back at her.  
"I didn't say that.. but we'll have one hell of a fun time trying to make it outside alive. Wherever 'outside' may be.."

"I see.."

The sound of nearing footsteps caught both their attention. Balthazar managed to hiss a fast "we're still out cold!" to the girl assuming the "I'm-dead-and-you-can-clearly-see-it"-pose by dropping his head to the chest. Becky followed his example, not a second too early too, because the door to their cell opened and flooded the room with blinding light which gave both of them a hard time as they tried not to react to the pain in their eyes. While Balthazar, used to such, remained successful, Becky sucked in breath sharply to ease the pains. Their visitor hadn't missed it, smiled knowingly and closed in on the girl, stood before her and slapped her across the cheek, effectively breaking her concentration.

"Yeh, tha's right. Go' to wake when lad' Morgana wants ya", he said and unlocked the bracers around the girl's wrists. To her shock, her legs wouldn't support her weight after she'd hung this amount of time without ground contact. So Becky just sacked to the floor, making the man before her hiss in dissatification. "Ya' kno' kiddo, I coul' do more to ya'. Walk on ya' own or I'll drag ya!"

Again, Becky tried to stand, just to slump back down once again, looking up at the stranger, who just shook his head, gripped her by the limp legs and actually started dragging her outside the cell! Yelling and cursing at the man she tried getting free, but when she was about to kick out like a leashed animal, the man froze – literally at that – and didn't move any further. Becky looked to the side, finding Balthazar doing something, as his ring was glowing brightly. Mere seconds later the strange man splintered into a myriad of ice shards, leaving only the clothes and – most important – a set of keys.

It wasn't a matter of thinking. The girl reacted on pure instinct as she crawled over, collected the keys and went to bring them to Balthazar, but the metallic door openers just flew out of her hand and the correct one placed itself into the bracers binding the sorcerer to the wall. As the locks opened themselves with a soft click, the elder slid to the ground as well, rubbing his numbed legs.

"We need to get out of here.", he stated the obvious, earning a sluggish nod of the girl who imitated his rubbing on her own legs, hoping to get some feeling back into them. As she saw him stand, she tried as well, being less successful – and less gracious – with it, toppling over with a soft squeak, just to be caught by the man who by now stood next to her and pulled her back up softly. Becky found it strange he had the nerves to smile reassuringly at her, while he put one hand onto her right leg. Was this the time for... whatever he was doing?! Just as she thought that, a sharp jolt went up her legs, through the back, along her neck and connected the brain to the nerves below again, effectively killing the numbness in her legs. She was about to thank the sorcerer, but he just shook his head.

"No time for this. Let's go. Don't stop, keep running, whatever happens. Understood?", he asked and his sharp tone marked the importance of it. Hesitatingly the blonde nodded, blushing as the elder smiled again at her.

"Good." With that, he ran ahead, followed by a re-energized girl who had no idea how she would ever tell Dave – if she met him again – that she had fallen in love with his master.

The problem wasn't to leave the room unnoticed. Balthazar had made sure they wouldn't be followed by sending illusional selves of the two of them in the opposite direction. Over Becky and himself he'd placed an invisibility spell, so they were relatively save. Unless any of them made a sound. Which proved hard to prevent as they ran along the empty hallway. Something about this corridor was familiar to Balthazar, though he couldn't put a finger on it.

When they left it behind and entered a big hall though, he realized where they were. Fine then, so Morgana had setup her main quarter right over his own, probably doing so on purpose, as he saw the Merlin Circle, breached by a Morganian pentagram. To make matters worse, the evil witch stood right between them and the only exit! Great, Balthazar thought grimly, so when this all was over he had to find a new place. No way he was gonna stay in a room that had been used for Morganian magic. Thinking further, he realized he could just levitate Becky on the cat walk so she could get to safety. The catch to this idea was, that he would have to stay here. Levitating himself up there would pose a problem, as the spell required not only enough concentration to even work in general, but at least double the power to make it work on yourself. On the other hand, he'd find a way to get out soon enough. And without someone needing protection the chances of him getting away unscathed where a lot better anyway.

Having made the decision already, he turned to Becky, who faced him as well, sensing he was about to say something, but instead of hearing words, she just felt the gentle touch of his ringed hand on her forehead. Then she heard him, or maybe she didn't, as the voice she thought she heard was right in her head, bypassing the ears – and possible third-party listeners.

/ I will lift you up there. When I set you down, you take your legs in both hands and run upstairs. Do not wait for me, just get out of here. \\

She opened her mouth to answer, but decided more wisely to close it again. As the words sickered in, she wondered /How is he gonna do that? I mean, he's a sorcerer and all, but..\\ The blonde saw the somewhat annoyed expression in the other's face and blushed.

/ Trust me \\, he transmitted and Rebecka hesitatingly nodded. What followed afterwards was like a dream. One moment she felt the ground beneath her feet, the next second it was gone and she floated as if walking on clouds. The catwalk came closer and closer until she stood on top of it. Looking back at Balthazar she found the man with his hand stretched out in her direction, one of the rings still glowing. He sent her a fierce look, making her run.

When the girl finally was gone, the elder resisted the urge to give it a relieved sigh, for he'd be heard if he did. Looking back at Morgana, he wondered silently if she was weakened enough to not notice the spell that had happened right before her eyes. As he turned to go somewhere out of sight to release the spell and rest for a moment, he heard Morgana's voice behind him.

"Where do you think you're going, _beloved_?", she said, her voice like acid, and as he hesitatingly turned his head, she stared right at him, who thought himself to be invisible. Apparently not! "Don't think I haven't noticed your little trick.", the witch continued and started approaching the old sorcerer, who didn't notice he'd been stepping backwards until his back met the wall, Morgana standing just a few feet from him, smiling wickedly at him.

The next thing Balthazar knew, was that stony hands, growing right out of the wall, gripped his shoulders, arms, legs, effectively immobilized him and made him defenseless against the spells Morgana threw at him now.

Good for the elder though, he blacked out when the first sharp jolt went through his body.

Becky ran through empty streets. Her lungs burned from exhaustion and dust that filled the air, her heart threatened to leap right out of her chest, but she still kept on dashing. Her bad consciousness told her to go back and help the man who'd saved her life countless times, but she knew too well she'd be no help at all, probably more of a hindrance. If just Dave was still alive...

Thinking this, she abruptly stopped, staring blankly to the ground. He had to be alive somewhere. She loved him deeply, so she'd know when he was dead, right? At least it was what people always said. Movies proclaimed the eternal love as well. If any of it was indeed true, Dave wasn't dead at all. Knowing it was the dumbest thing she could do, Becky headed straight for Battery Park. The place where everything had started to go down the abyss, right?

New enthusiasm filled her veins like burning oil and made her run even faster. She didn't care if she was spotted now, or if the spell fell off and she'd have to save her skin. When she found the physics nerd, they'd have a real chance of getting out of this mess! If he was alive to begin with...

As she reached the park, she found it more or less like it was when she saw it the last time. The only difference was that it was completely deserted now. Of the surviving non-magic humans, nobody had the nerves to take a walk through the park. Trying to catch her breath she took in the scenery for a moment before approaching the fountain in the center. No water sprayed from it anymore. But there were no traces either. Exploring the deserted well further, the blonde walked around it, looking for anything useful. Indeed, she found something. That strange cane the fat man with the melon had used to attack her and Dave back then in Drake Stone's penthouse.. It laid on the ground as if forgotten, three rings attached to it, including that silver ring looking like a dragon.. It belonged to Dave, she knew, so the girl picked up the cane and tried to pull if off. Unsuccessfully. Frustrated she held the thing in her hands as she walked on. As she did, a certain spot drew her closer – magically if you want. Kneeling down on the ground next to it, she touched the spot.

Something was wrong here. It felt different. What could this mean? As she pondered over this, the ground below suddenly gave in, opened like a huge mouth and swallowed her in one big gulp.

"Becky? Is that you? Oh please tell me you aren't Becky Barnes!"

That voice broke the soft surface of the dream's folds. Rebecka's eyelids fluttered as the girl slowly regained consciousness and started to look around. She definitely had fallen down some unreasonable hole. Judged by her aching bones she was not only still alive but also mostly unhurt, even if she felt like every bone in her body was shattered. And she wasn't alone, another bonus point! But this voice sounded so familiar..

"Dave?"

No, it couldn't be. A nervous laughter met her ears. Apparently it could be. She couldn't believe it. This had to be a dream, right? Maybe she'd hit her head pretty hard after the fall. Maybe she was dead for all she knew! Slowly turning around and facing the source of that voice, the girl felt her heart skip a beat, as known features became visible to her, even in this barely lit room, she could make out the bony face, the slim figure, and most of all, those brilliant eyes that reflected some of the dim light down here. Another second of staring and wondering, then she'd jumped into his arms – well, more exactly she had her arms around him, as he was chained to the wall for some reason. But for now, the blonde wasn't worried about that. What counted was, that they were together again! And he wasn't dead!

"I missed you so much!", seemed to come out of both their mouths at the same time and made them blush and look away synchronously. Dave though was the first one to find the courage to speak again.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you!", Becky replied and suddenly remembered more, which was accompanied by a startled gasp. "We need to help your uncle..master..Balthazar!", she stumbled, which made Dave just frown slightly, but he didn't look much like he was utterly devasted. More as if he'd seen it coming somehow.

"Becky, I know this sounds like a bad excuse.. but I'm kinda bound here. And even if I wasn't, I can't defeat Morgana!"  
"You can! I know you can!"  
"Look. I failed one time. Even Merlin, _the _Merlin, could only _stall_ Morgana. What shall _I_ do in your opinion?"  
"First, stop drowning yourself in self-pity!", Becky resolutely said, backed off and then started to pull on the chains that bound her boyfriend, who just mildly smiled at her useless attempts.

"They're enchanted. We won't get them off by force, Becky! I spent the last..", Dave began, then realized he had no idea of how much time had passed since he'd landed down here. Shaking his head he further said "Nevermind. It won't work!"  
"Let me do this!", she said and put all her measy power into pulling again. Wonder oh wonder, nothing happened. At first. The girl had been trying for ten minutes, before the chains slowly started to disintegrate. When they suddenly poofed into nothing, both, Prime Merlinean and girlfriend, fell to the stony ground, panting and laughing at the same time.

"Maybe we have a chance after all!", Dave stated and Becky smiled, proud of herself and cuter than the sweetest cherrymilk. Using her fingers to brush back one stray hair behind her ear, she shyly looked up at Dave, who stretched and got up to his full size. By now, he hadn't seen the cane, until Becky nearly fell over it and had to be caught by him. Taking it up, his eyes widened in surprise.

"My ring!", he exclaimed, much to his girlfriend's surprise of the sudden loudness, and tried to pull it off, but failed just like Becky did. Frowning the young sorcerer shook his head and just helt the cane in his hands.

A new fire was in his eyes as he said "Maybe it's not too late."

By now, it had began to rain. Each drop burned on the skin, feeling like falling acid, as the young sorcerer and his girlfriend made their way back to the turnaround. While Becky didn't actually want to go back there, she knew there was no other way. After all, it was her fault everything had gone bad, so she felt it was her responisibility to at least help get it right again.

As they ran, they found the time to discuss a little more.

"What do you mean, he's still alive? I've seen his corpse back then!", Dave exclaimed, one quarter upset his mentor, master and friend wasn't with Becky and three quarters relieved to hear the man had, in fact, not died to begin with. Becky just smiled wryly at him, pondering about how to start. As she told her boyfriend the whole story, his features lit up. All she heard from him for the rest of their run, was a whispered "I see..."

When they reached their destination and came to stand in front of the steely grid of the entrance door, Dave faced the girl, gripping both her shoulders tightly and looking straight into her eyes.  
"Wait here for me, alright? It'll be too dangerous..."  
"No. I'll come with you."  
"Listen..", Dave replied, not sure what to say. Her dedication was impressive, but it wouldn't save her in the hell's pit, right? "..we don't know what will happen down there! I don't know if I can protect you!"  
"I don't care."  
"But..!"  
"No use, David Stutler. This girlfriend isn't gonna leave you!"

He smiled at that, knowing he'd lost the fight. Shaking his head before gently kissing her, he hugged her tightly before backing off and opening the door slowly and carefully in case there were traps. As it gave way and they were about to run down the stairs right into death's arms, he nodded to Becky. "When anything happens, run!"

Her sugar sweet smile told him she wouldn't though.

The duo sneaked down the stairs. Dave had placed a basic sound-damper spell over them, effectively blocking any soundwave' emition from disturbing the air around them, but even though, the place's eerie atmosphere made them feel like children who tried to sneak into the kitchen to steal a few cookies! Well, if you ignore the fact the owner of that kitchen wouldn't just give them a slap to the hands and send them out, but slap them with whatever dark magic and send them out of life for good instead ... if they were found that is. Dave had no intention of letting this happen (to ensure this, he'd even warded the door again, even if he knew the Morganians might just break it) and all that kept Becky calm was her trust that everything was going to be alright now that she had him back. At the same time, a voice in her head scolded her for being a b... no, she shook her head to get her mind clear. She was Dave's girlfriend, right? She'd confused gratefulnes for being protected with love. But what, if that was the same with Dave?

As they were far enough to see the catwalk, Dave stopped again, ordered Becky to wait there for a moment so he could check if the air was clear. The blonde nodded agreement and whispered a "Don't be away too long, David Stutler, or I won't wait!", she said, trying to reassure herself more than him, receiving a nervous grin from the boy.

Said boy now had reached the catwalk, but made sure to stick to the shadows, just to keep prying eyes from seeing him – and cast something nasty at him. But as he came closer, he found all the panic had been in vain. Nobody home! At least he thought that, until he heard a dampened outcry and some angry voice. Then a loud slap and another outcry. Swallowing hard, Dave sneaked down the sidestairs and went in the direction of the noises. He knew that one of them..

Passing the violated Merlin's Circle, a wave of nostalgia washed over the apprentice. It felt like he'd been down that hole for years.. but it wasn't possible, right? He ran the last few steps, realizing all his cautionous stalking would only serve to cost him valuable time, since hearing his steps was out of question, thanks to the spell. Soon he wished he had turned around and fled with Becky. Maybe to France or something.

In the room that had once served as a spare sleeping room when he overstayed the night here once again to work on his experiments, through a slit between wooden door and doorframe, he saw her. Morgana. And he saw his master, armes chained above his head to the wall, his upper body naked and bleeding from countless cuts everywhere, caused by an insane whip that slapped wildly through the air. Morgana just stood beside, watching the spectacle. When the whip stopped for a moment, her icy voice said, annoyed as if she'd repeated the same question a lot of times lately;  
"I'm losing my patience, Merlinean. Where is the girl? Where did you send her?"  
"Nothing of your concern..", Balthazar nearly whispered, his tone tired and to a degree pained, but his storm blue eyes stared right at Morgana, his gaze not the one of a broken man. If you held a paper between him and Morgana, it'd probably slice right in two...

"You know you won't get out of here alive. If you cooperate, I'll give you a fast death at least."

"..."  
"Fine. Have it your way, Blake!", Morgana hissed and the whip started slapping once again. Dave had seen enough. Balthazar didn't look like he'd give up any time soon, but Becky was in grave danger. Not losing any more time the boy hurried back to the blonde... just to find her gone! As someone touched his shoulder, he was damn grateful for the silence spell, for his scream would've alerted not only Morgana but also all New York! Turning around with a racing heartbeat he found the missing girl, who smiled at him. How could she joke at a time like this!  
"Are you out of your mind? You need to flee!", Dave nearly whined, which made the girl get serious again.  
"I already told you I.."  
"Morgana wants to kill you! Or worse!"  
"What can be worse than death?"  
"I don't know, man.. but you don't want to know it either!"  
"That bad?"  
"Yes! Go, we'll come after you."  
"Okay."  
"Wha.. just like that?"  
"Yes. Because I trust you."

And she left him standing. What was with that girl? Dave shook his head as he watched her leave. When he was alone again, he immediately headed back to the chamber again. Luck had it, that he jumped behind a corner before Morgana, who just came out, could see him. As the witch paced by, her face betrayed a deep-sitting anger and hatred. Obviously, she hadn't been too successful in her attempts to make the object of her hate talk. The apprentice ducked and made his way to the torture chamber – or whatever she may call it. Good thing there weren't any guards, so Dave had no trouble opening the door and slip inside.

His first strides led him to his master, who looked not only pretty much beaten up but on top of it unconscious. Probably understandable, as to his feet a small bloody pond had formed. Which was, probably, his. Maybe he should try to wake the old man and... A whack to his back told him otherwise, reminding him of something important, and threw him to the ground, moaning. In the bit of light coming in through the half open door, the boy saw the whip again. Damn, how could he forget!

Jumping to his legs, David witnessed the effects of the diabolic instrument, as his legs felt like rubber. Steadying himself, he cast a simple fire spell at it. The thing avoided and slapped him again. And again. Throwing him to the ground by hitting his back again. And again. And.. then it suddenly stopped. Looking up timidly and waiting for the next hit, Dave found the whip had stopped and now hovered in front of a force field, that shimmered icy blue.

"I wonder why we even practised on that..", Dave heard a voice above him and as he looked at the source, his eyes met those of the older sorcerer, who's ring was glowing fiercly, barely keeping up the shield. Instead of thanking him for the protection or doing something else anyone had done, like hugging the person he hadn't seen for so long, Dave just stared. Then smiled. Then, finally, tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Don't scare me like that, old man!", he whined as he stood, then started to speed-rust the chains. Balthazar didn't reply to that and instead focused on keeping up the spell that shielded them from the incoming attacks of the reawakened whip, that now tried to, true to it's nature, slap through the invisible barrier which shined brightly each time it caught a hit. When the chains finally gave in with a nasty creaking and crunching, the elder first realigned his bones, then send a wave of concentrated airpressure against the whip, pulverizing it instantly against the next wall, before turning to face his apprentice, who just looked at him like a lost puppy. The master was just about to comment on that, when both heard a slow, sarcastic clapping from the door. As they faced it, already knowing who would greet them, Morgana smiled sardonically. Dave's mind began to race. Hadn't she gone to find Becky? Why was she back already? Worse even, did she find her?

"Very good, Merlineans. But this is as far as you will go", the witch then said, raising her right hand at them, casting something undefinable, which took the form of vines, growing from the otherwise barren cell floor, going straight at the men, who jumped each to another side, avoiding the sharp and pointy end that came for them. When the plant was met by glaring flame spells from both sides, you nearly could hear it scream in pain before more vines came to the attacked plant's rescue. There was no end to it, and no sense to fight. Balthazar hoped Dave had realized this as well when he dashed in Morgana's direction, planning on getting past her while she was still paralysed from surprise. Dave saw this, was about to follow, then was forced to scream a warning instead, but it was too late. Just as the elder was about to pass the not-even-mildly surprised witch, said one smiled wickedly before one pretty much scorched vine rushed at the fleeing human, took aim and...

This was when Dave looked away, afraid to watch the vine go straight through the force field and his friend getting impaled by the it. The apprentice tried to overhear the damp sound as the older sorcerer landed flat on the front and still tried to get away, less promising than before though, as the vine had pierced right through his back. Blood was already pooling from underneath the fallen man. Morgana watched all this before turning to young David, who gulped hard and directed his ring at her, just moderately impressing the witch, before her ring flared up and complete darkness – and silence – engulved the apprentice.


End file.
